Effect of Cu2+ Doping on Structural and Optical Properties of Synthetic Zn0.5CuxMg0.5-xFe2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) Nano-Ferrites

The samples of Zn0.5CuxMg0.5-xFe2O4 nanoparticle ferrites, with x= 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 were successfully synthesised. Structural and optical properties were investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectros-copy (FTIR) and UV-visible spectroscopy. The structural studies showed that all the samples prepared through the Co-precipitation method was a single phase of a face-cantered-Cubic (FCC) spinel symmetry structures with space group (SG): Fd-3m. In the series Zn0.5CuxMg0.5-xFe2O4, the lattice parameter was found to be 8.382 A for x = 0 and was found to increase with copper con-centration. The grain size obtained from the XRD data analyses was found to be in the range of 15.97 to 28.33 nm. The increased in the grain size may be due to the large ionic radius of Mg2+ (0.86 A) compared with Cu2+ (0.73 A). The FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the formation of spinel ferrite and showed the characteristics absorption bands around 580, 1112, 1382, 1682, 1632 and 2920 cm-1. The energy band gap was calculated for samples were found to be in the range 4.04 to 4.67 eV.